The Next Step
by StoryDiva
Summary: Set after season four finale Luke and Lorelai have been dating for a few months and certain member's of the Star's Hollow Community Miss PattyBabette think it's time the two go to the next step. Written for a Luke&Lorelai ficathon.


**Title: ** The Next Step 

**Author: ** storydivagirl [at] hotmail [dot] com 

**Disclaimer: ** not mine though sometimes I swear GG suck random thoughts out of my head and give them to Lorelai. But yeah, not mine, just for fun. 

**A/N: ** Written for the Luke/Lorelai ficathon. First Gilmore Girls story and filled with much banter. Also posted in my livejournal (user=storydivagirl) and on my website ) 

The first thing Lorelai noticed as she exited her house was Babette and Miss Patty hovered under a tree, lost in conversation. Normally, Lorelai would wave and make her way into town or to her car-a quick hello and she was on her way, jamming along to "Our Lips Our Sealed" by the GoGo's (not the remake which was terrible and when, exactly, had she gotten old enough for there to be remakes of her favorite songs, she couldn't help but wonder)-but this evening, she smelled a trap. She was well honed to such things having grown up with Richard and Emily Gilmore and she slowly, cautiously, _very carefully as not to awaken the sleeping lions_, stepped back onto her porch and reached for the door. 

She was almost home free. 

Almost. 

It was the screen door that did her in. Wasn't it always the screen door? In movies, in television shows, _in real life_. And hadn't Luke sworn that he had fixed the thing "for real this time" but it looked like that was a big fat lie. (_Mental note_, she thought, _punish Luke severely-hold ownership of books like Love the Luke Within over his headforever._) Both Miss Patty and Babette's heads snapped around and focused on her. 

She was a dead woman. 

Lorelai sighed and made peace with her fate. There was no avoiding it nowand at least she would have an excuse for running twenty minutes to meet Luke. He couldn't blame her for being cornered by the two gossip barracudas of the town and he never needed to know that she was baffled by the difference between Sparkling Champagne and Pretty In Pink lipstick. 

"Lorelai, sweetheart, we were just talking about you," Babette said. 

Subtle was not in either of these women's vocabularies, Lorelai thought. She walked over to them, smiled her I'm-not-really-scared-so-I-shall-show-you-my-teeth grin, and decided it was best to play along. She replied, "Really?" 

Miss Patty nodded fervently and said, "Yes, dear. We were wondering when you and Luke were going to take the _next step_." 

"I bought him a coffee maker. Does that count?" 

"You know what I'm talking about," Patty paused and moved closer to Lorelai as if she was about to expel a wisdom only she was privy to. She sighed and went on, "You and Luke have been dancing around this relationship thing for a long time." 

"Years," Babette added. 

"Years?" 

"Many, many years," Babette said. 

Lorelai nodded. What else was she supposed to do? Arguing was a fruitless endeavor with these two and she was already late enough. She motioned to her watch and said, "I'm running late." 

"Movie with Luke," Miss Patty said. Not a question, a statement. Lorelai swore that woman knew everyone's schedule better than they did. 

"Yes and he's already enough of a handful-" 

Miss Patty and Babette exchanged looks. Miss Patty gently tapped Lorelai's shoulder and said, "It's because we care, dear, that we say this. It's time for the two of you to settle down. The whole town knew it was bound to happen sooner or later-" 

"The whole town?" 

"Yes." 

"The whole town? I'm not sure I even know the _whole town_." 

"Lorelai-" 

"Surely some infant came home from the hospital recently who has no knowledge of my history with Luke." 

"Honey, go meet Luke," Babette replied, motioning for Lorelai to scoot and leave the two women to dissect her relationship with Luke. She smiled at Lorelai as though to say, "Poor clueless, Lorelai. When is she going to come to her senses and let us marry her off already?" 

That was the one thing she hated about small towns. Everyone knew what was going on in everyone else's lives; everyone was invested in her relationships. Like she didn't have enough pressure on her to make this work, to try damn hard not to tread down her commitment-avoidance path of the past and end up losing one of her best friends in the process. 

She walked toward the diner. She could imagine Luke pacing the sidewalk in front of the diner, arms crossed and an annoyed expression etched on his face. He would see her, tap his watch, and say, "Would it kill you to get somewhere on time just once? Hell, I'd settle for five minutes late." 

She smiled inwardly. She found she did that a lot lately and it weirded her out a bit. She couldn't recall a time she felt like this-lightheaded, happy, and always anticipating the next time-with someone. It was even stranger that this someone turned out to be Luke Danes. It was like one dance at a wedding followed by one bouquet of flowers and one amazing, heart racing kiss had flipped a switch inside her and everything had changed. 

Lorelai had gotten to rediscover Luke all over (again, the cheesy smile) and she loved every minute of it. She loved that she could still draw on her vast knowledge of Luke's likes and dislikes all the while learning new things (Luke Danes, number one Bee Gees fan in his day-who knew?) that no one else did. 

"There you are," Luke called out, pulling her from her thoughts. 

His arms were crossed, making the curves of his muscles more pronounced through his sweater, and he was tapping his watch with his finger. She smiled and immediately responded, "Not my fault." 

"Kidnapped again?" 

"I still maintain that could've happened. Who wouldn't want me and my collection of Duran Duran memorabilia?" 

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that because I'd lose what little respect I once had for you." 

"Does the man who listens to the Bee Gees dare insult my taste in music?" 

"You're twenty minutes late." 

"Don't change the subject." 

"It wasn't a subject. You were the one who brought it up." 

"Still a subject," she countered. She noticed him roll his eyes and caught him muttering under his breath. She pointed at him and said, "Duran Duran was a great group. I could list five reasons right off the top of my head about how great they were and why." 

"And you're going to." 

"Yep." 

"Why do I always end up suffering for your problems with punctuality? It's not like I was the one who kept you waiting. I'm always right on time." 

"Which really is your own fault and why you end up sitting on my sofa for fifteen minutes," she replied. She looped her arm around Luke's, pulling it from his stronghold arms-crossed death grip, and said, "And, for the record, no one suffers with Duran Duran, Luke. They're sparkles and sunlight." 

"I'm sorry I even brought this up," he replied. 

Lorelai rested her head on his shoulder. It wasn't something she thought about, something she simply did now, and Luke's fingers brushed up her back and through her hair. She asked, "Did you know we're supposed to be at the next step now?" 

"Miss Patty cornered you, huh?" 

"Both her and Babette." 

"Jesus." 

"We knew this would happen when people found out we were" her voice trailed off. 

"Dating? I think that's the word you were looking for," he said with a small smile and an odd mischievous glimmer in his eyes. He nudged her and said, "I think it's safe to say we're dating." 

"No. That jinxes it. That's bad." 

"It's been four months." 

"But-" 

"We spend almost every day together." 

"We always did that." 

"Okay, we spend almost every night together." 

"Maybe I liked the idea of having coffee served to me? And you do give the bestcoffee," she replied with a wink. 

"Whatever your reasoning. We _date_, Lorelai." 

"Stop saying that. Bad relationship juju is circling us at this very minute-no wonder Nicole dumped you." 

"Would you stop with this stuff?" 

"Fine." 

"Was that a 'fine' as in you'll stop or 'fine' as in you're going to keep talking and we'll never make the movie?" 

"Luke" she let go of her grip on him and turned to face him. She leaned over and placed a quick kiss on his lips. That was all it was intended to be. Simple and wonderful, how she felt whenever she was around him. But her hands and lips had another idea. Her fingers tickled at the nape of his neck, curling his hair around her fingers before sliding through his hair and pulling him to her. Her lips took over at that point. Little bites on his bottom lip, something she had learned was quite effective in getting him to shut up, and a long, slow kiss. 

She sighed, grinned at the equally contented look on Luke's face, and asked, "Do you think we need another step?" 

"Like make amends for past wrongs?" 

Lorelai rolled her eyes. Why did he bait her? Why did she allow him to? She said, "I'm serious." 

"So am I. Do I need to bring up Miss Patty's own record with love?" 

"Luke-" 

"All I'm saying is that we both agreed that this was about us. Not about the town. Not about our friends. This was you and me." 

"I like you and me." 

He nodded. She noticed the smile he was trying to hide. When would he learn that there was nothing he could hide from her now? (If this were a movie, she decided, this was where she would insert the evil cackles). He caressed her face and added, "So stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. You and I know what works for us and if and when we want to take things further, we will. And I certainly don't plan to make a town announcement." 

"You won't have to. Miss Patty will take care of that." 

He kissed her forehead and said, "Can we drop this? It'll drive us nuts otherwise." 

"I'm already nuts." 

"Yes, you are." 

"Hey" 

"And if you're really gung-ho on 'a next step', you admitting we're dating might be a good place to start." 

"I don't deny that we" she lowered her voice and continued, "date." 

"I bask in the love you have for me, Lorelai." 

She rolled her eyes, "Were you always this big of a baby or is this a new development?" 

"Can we go see the movie now?" 

"I guess, but stop saying that word." 

"Date?" 

Lorelai's arms circled around the two of them and she replied, "The bad juju is all around us, Luke." 

He shook his head and he replied, "I should know better. You never let anything go." 

"I'm like Napoleon that way." 

"Right over my head." 

"Napoleon. Megalomaniac. French ruler. Obsessed with invading Russia. _Obsessed. _Couldn't let it go. He'd be having a conversation aboutI don't knowcroissants-" 

"Croissants?" he questioned. 

She couldn't help but notice that sexy tilt of the head he got whenever he wasn't sure what to make of her. She had to remind herself where she was going with this conversation for a second there, almost lost to thoughts of grabbing Luke and doing very, very bad things (things that would make those "next step" mongerers blush.). She forced a deep breath and said, "I don't know. Something French people are interested in-" 

"And you logically went right to croissants." 

She ignored him and went on, "Anyway, Napoleon and his wife would be having this nice little chat and he would start going on and on about his need to invade Russia. Couldn't let anything go." 

"I'm actually stupider for having listened to that, I think." 

"It's all a part of my charm, Luke." 

"I honestly don't even remember what we were talking about before Napoleon's odd love of croissants came up." 

"Not cursing this very wonderful, very amazing connection that we have created by putting some inane label on us." 

"Such as dating?" 

"Such as dating," she answered with a nod. She stared at him for a moment and she couldn't help but notice the way he was watching her-part amusement, part annoyance, and part ardor. It was the ardor that was making him very hard to resist and her arms snaked back around him. He didn't stop her, despite the fact that they were in public and neither were given to public displays of affection, and instead placed his hands on her hips and brought her closer. He rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip with a small smile evident on his own face. She couldn't help but get caught up in the energy surrounding them as his lips engulfed her own and she found all thought was impossible. 

She finally pulled away and said, "We're acting like lovesick teenagers." 

"Who don't da-" 

She held up her hand, "Don't you dare." 

"How about that movie?" 

"I don't know. Can we make out while the previews are playing and really annoy everyone else?" 

"Because what we want is to endure long conversations with the likes of Taylor." 

"Fair point." 

"Movie?" 

"Okay." 

"Good," he replied. He reached for her hand. Again, simple and wonderful and one of those things that made it quite clear to her that he was right. When (Lorelai was impressed that she omitted the "if" part-her subconscious was much less commitment phobic than the rest of her) they were ready, the next step would be easy and certain and everything people talked about in those old movies-because it was all about him and her. That was all that mattered. 

_{Fin}_


End file.
